


Alright, Who Did It?

by SingingInTheRaiin



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Connor is the son of Hank's ex wife, Gen, Hank wants to be Connor's new dad, Human AU, but i got bored of the case halfway through, cole is alive, even as a human connor doesn't understand humans, i decided to make cole 13, mentions of homophobic hate crimes, oh well, so Cole is his half-brother, this was gonna be a case fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-23 16:37:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18553633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingingInTheRaiin/pseuds/SingingInTheRaiin
Summary: Hank and Connor are sent to investigate the murder of a wealthy philanthropist, and somehow end up talking about their feelings and stuff. (oh yeah and they are totally a family despite not being blood related, so stop protesting so much, Connor)





	Alright, Who Did It?

The victim had tried to write something out as he was dying, but had only managed a few letters before the final blow had been struck. “Do you know of any reason the victim would feel the need to write ‘M A R’?”

Hank shook his head, though there was a pensive look on his face as he tried to figure it out. “Could be the start of the name of his killer.”

Connor frowned. “All of the servants were accounted for except for one, and her name is Elizabeth. This looks like it was very personal. He still has his wallet on him, and though the husband has not done a full inventory yet, it doesn’t appear as though anything valuable was stolen, which means that it was not a break in gone wrong. As far as I can tell so far, he’s well liked within the community, donates a lot of money to charity.”

“Come on, haven’t you ever seen a murder mystery movie? Whenever there’s a partially spelled out word that the victim wrote, it always ends up being the killer’s name.”

Connor rolled his eyes. “Fine then. You can start looking into every person in the city whose name starts with ‘Mar’ while I do some real detective work to try and figure out who committed this crime.”

Hank sighed. “You’re always such a buzz-kill, does anyone ever tell you that?”

“You do, everyday.”

Hank shrugged. “Not my fault that I’m duty-bound to tell the truth. Though maybe if you weren’t always being such a pain in the ass-”

“Will both of you just shut up?” the captain asked as he looked at them tiredly. “No matter how often you fight, I’m not going to change my mind about having made you two partners. Now can you please just focus on actually solving this case? There are quite a few people who are deeply invested in knowing that the killer is behind bars.”

Hank and Connor exchanged a quick look, and silently communicated that they were both ready to get serious. They took in every detail of the scene that they could, and then headed back to the precinct to start filling out paperwork and discussing their findings. “Has anyone gotten into contact with the ex-wife yet?”

“No, but according to the husband they are all very close friends. There’s no reason for him to lie about how well they get along with the woman he replaced.”

Connor hesitated for a moment. “I hate to be the one to say it, but has anyone considered the idea that this could be a hate crime? I know that we live in a pretty liberal world compared to a couple of decades ago, but there’s always people who are stubbornly insistent on denying others the right to be happy.”

Hank reached up to scrub at his face. “There was no sign of a break in at the house. Surely anyone homophobic enough to stoop to murder wouldn’t be able to hide that long enough to get through the front door. But I suppose that we can’t really rule it out.” They both went over the details for a while longer before Hank balled up a random piece of paper to toss at Connor. “Come on, staring at these pages isn’t going to make any answers magically appear. Let’s go eat.”

As they headed to Hank’s car, Connor easily sliding into the passenger seat as he’d done hundreds of times before, Connor gave Hank a small smile. “What would the others think if they saw us right now? Are you sure you want to risk that they might spread rumors about us actually being friends?”

“They can say whatever they want,” Hank grumbled. “I’m too busy to be dealing with imbeciles.”

They stopped across the street from Hank’s favorite food stand, which Hank insisted on going to no matter how many times Connor pointed out the terrible nutrition, or the fact that the health inspector had given this place violations on at least three different occasions. Hank got his usual burger, fries, and pineapple passion drink, while Connor just got bottled water.

They both stood around one of the nearby tables, sheltering themselves from the slight drizzle in the air. “So how’s Sumo?” Connor asked after a few seconds of slightly awkward silence passed between them.

Hank snorted, and finished chewing before he answered. “He’s fine. He misses you, if that’s what you’re asking.” Connor could feel his face heat up slightly, and took a long gulp of his water. Hank laughed at that reaction. “I knew it, you only like me for my dog.”

“I like you,” Connor protested. “I’ve just been- busy. Yeah, no time for visiting anybody.”

Hank took a big bite of his burger, and then responded with his mouth still a bit full. “Sure. Busy. Well, if you suddenly find yourself with any free time on your hands, know that you’re welcome to stop by and see Sumo whenever you want.” A long moment passed with only the sound of Hank’s chewing, and then he took a few unnecessarily noisy slurps of his drink. “You haven’t asked about Cole yet. Or am I just supposed to assume that when you ask about Sumo you really mean to ask about both of them?”

Connor took another sip of his water. “I thought that it would be easier on you to not talk about it.”

Hank shrugged. “We almost never get the chance to talk outside of work because you’re always hurrying off to somewhere or another. If you want to talk about your own damn dog or your own damn brother, who am I to stop you?”

A sigh slipped out from between Connor’s lips. “Half-brother,” he corrected absent-mindedly.

It made Hank snort again. “And I bet you thank your lucky stars everyday that you don’t actually have any blood relation to me.”

“It’s not like that,” Connor said quietly. He took a moment to try and get his thoughts together into something that would actually make sense. “I guess I feel like I’m intruding when I go to your place. Being partners isn’t something that we chose, so it’s easier to justify in my mind. But going out of my way to go to your house and interact with your family seems wrong somehow. Like I’m going behind my mom’s back. She really hates you, you know. We’ve been partners for three months already and I still haven’t told her about it because I’m afraid of how upset it will make her.”

Hank set his food down and focused his full attention on Connor. “The problems between your mother and me have nothing to do with you. And neither of us have been doing our jobs very well if you feel like you have to work so hard to keep every part of your life completely separate. We may not be related by blood, but I do care about you Connor. I want you to be happy. And I want Cole to be happy too, which means being able to see his big brother. He’s always really looked up to you. And he misses you. Hell, I miss you. Just seeing you in work mode isn’t the same. You used to come over all the time.”

No matter what Hank said, Connor couldn’t help feeling the way that he did about the situation. “I’ve just been-”

“-busy, I know.” Hank crumpled up his empty wrapper, and then stood up straight, stretching back so that his shoulders cracked, and then heading over to the trash can next to the burger stand. He glanced back at Connor. “You coming?” and Connor hurried after the older man to catch a ride back to the precinct, where his own car was still parked. “Well, whatever else is going on, I’m glad to have you as a partner.”

Connor offered up one of his rare smiles. “Me too.”

,,,

Hank knocked louder than necessary on the front door. A few seconds passed before it was partially opened, and a young woman peered out at them. “Can I help you?”

“DPD,” Connor told her, holding out his badge. “Are you Elizabeth Nettle?” When she nodded, Connor continued on. “We’re here about your employer, Mr. Gates. If you have not already heard by now, then I’m sorry to be the one to tell you that he was unfortunately killed in his own home yesterday afternoon. We were able to speak with the other house staff at the scene, but you were not there.”

Her eyes darted back and forth between Connor and Hank, and then ended up directed down at the ground. “It was my day off. I never work Thursdays.”

Hank nodded towards the interior of the house. “Mind if we come in?” The woman hesitated for a moment, and then stepped back, a reluctant look on her face as she led them into a small living room. “Can you think of anyone who might hold a grudge against Mr. Gates?”

Elizabeth frowned as she tilted her head to the side to think. “Everyone loved him. I suppose there could be any number of people who dislike him solely because of his wealth, but he is a good man, detective. Was, I mean. He had a kind word to say about everybody he met, and he genuinely listened and cared about other people’s stories. He and his husband were very much in love, and they got along well with Mr. Gates’ ex-wife and her new girlfriend, and he always doted on his children.”

The two detectives shared a brief look before focusing back on the woman in front of him. “Can you tell us more about the ex’s new partner? I don’t think anyone else mentioned her.”

Elizabeth sighed. “While everyone can see that the former Mrs. Gates and Mr. Gates were still good friends, most of them didn’t realize that the divorce had been a mighty relief for the both of them, because they had both seemed to realize simultaneously that their interests lie in their own genders. Neither of them had had a specific person in mind at the time, and had simply not wanted to be forced to feel as though they were living a lie. They were glad to be separated from each other because it meant that both of them had the opportunity to find a love that would be more suitable for them.”

“Do you know this woman’s name, or any contact information for her?”

Elizabeth shrugged. “Sharon something. I don’t know much else.”

Hank cleared his throat. “Ms. Nettle, do you have an alibi for yesterday between one and four o’clock?”

She scowled. “You think that I killed him? Why would I do that? Do you really think that there’s any other millionaires out there who would be willing to pay so much for our time? Because I doubt it.”

“Is that a ‘no’?”

Elizabeth crossed her arms over her chest. “I was with my son most of the day. I was a chaperone on his class’ field trip to the aquarium. His teachers can verify it if you don’t believe me.”

Connor nodded. “Thank you for your time, ma’am.” He started to turn around to leave, but then paused and glanced back at her. “Ah, just one more thing. You said that you had no motive because you wouldn’t be able to find such a good job anywhere else, right? But won’t you still be employed by Dr. Gates?”

Elizabeth blinked a couple of times, and then shrugged. “I don’t know. He never cared about living in luxury nearly as much as his husband did. He might have been the one who had all the money to begin with, but I don’t think that he ever had any interest in keeping such a large staff in the house. I’m sure he’d give us good severance and recommendation letters, but I’m not so sure that he will keep all of us on.”

“I see. Thank you.” Then he and Hank left the house and headed back to Hank’s car. “So if they’re all going to get fired, that would take motivation away from all of the house staff. And with no sign of break in, it had to be someone that was let into the house because that person wasn’t seen as dangerous.”

Hank shrugged. “Or it was a professional, the kind that’s real good and getting into places they’re not supposed to be in.”

They returned to the precinct, both of them still stumped. When it was time to head back home, Hank pulled Connor aside. “I’m sure that even you can’t be too busy for dinner. Come on, let’s go. You’re going to see Cole and Sumo and eat shitty frozen lasagna and enjoy every minute of this.”

Connor narrowed his eyes. “And why is this happening so last minute?”

“Because I knew you’d find some way to get out of it if I told you in advance. Now come on. Oh, and before you try to come up with any excuses, know that I already told Cole you were coming over, so if you don’t, he’s going to be forced to take it very personally.”

Connor rolled his eyes. “I hate you,” he grumbled, but he did follow Hank out to the parking lot. “I’ll just follow behind your car.”

Hank shook his head. “Nope. Can’t trust that you won’t make a run for it. You can stay the night at my place, and I’ll give you a ride to work in the morning. I’m sure you don’t have anything important that you’d be doing tonight anyways.”

“That’s a rude assumption. I might actually have a personal life outside of work, you know.”

Hank gave him a knowing look. “Maybe I’d believe that more if I didn’t actually know you already. And I know at least half of the people who spawned you. I doubt she raised you to be any less of an over worker than she’s always been.”

Connor sighed as he slid into the passenger seat of Hank’s car. “Congratulations on being such a know it all.” 

The ride to Hank’s house seemed to pass by in no time at all, and then they were there, and Connor felt rather intimidated staring up at the one story house, complete with front porch and garage. It looked far too familial and perfect, like something right out of a movie. Somehow it was much more frightening than any police related situation he’d been in before. 

Every step up to the front door made Connor hope that the ground was just going to crack wide open and swallow him whole. And then they were at the front door, and even though Connor knew for a fact that he had an excellent poker face, stupid Hank knew him too well, and was giving him a slightly concerned look. “What’s wrong? I thought that you’d be happy to get the chance to visit your brother and your dog and break your back on that crappy old couch.”

Before Connor could get the chance to say anything, there was a loud barking, and then the front door swung open as a teenager and a large dog both raced out and literally tackled Connor to the ground. “Connor! I know Dad said you’d be coming over tonight, but I couldn’t believe it until I saw you!”

While Cole clung to Connor like a limpet, Sumo did his best to bath Connor’s face in slobber, and Connor found himself pulling them both closer instead of shoving them away like his conscience screamed for him do. “Hey kiddo, I know it’s been a while. Totally my fault.”

Hank laughed in the background until he finally reached down to pull Cole up. “Alright, give the guy some room to breathe. Let’s go inside. It’s too chilly out here for reunions, and I need to get dinner started if you’re to get to bed at a reasonable hour.”

As they headed in to the brightly lit home, Cole stared up at his father with his best puppy dog eyes. It was a surprisingly effective tactic considering he was already thirteen years old. “Do I have to go to bed? I want to stay up with Connor.”

Connor reached out to ruffle Cole’s hair. “Go to bed on time tonight. I promise I’ll come back soon. I shouldn’t have let so much time pass in the first place.”

In the end, he helped show Hank a few tips on how to make the frozen pasta taste more real, happy to show off slightly for his younger brother. There was still a vague sense of unease in him, like he was somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be, but the sound of all the laughter (and barking) was enough to block most of that out. Maybe he’d always feel awkwardly stuck between his mom and her ex-husband in a lot of ways, but right now, he just felt happy, and decided that he was going to enjoy these moments as they happened.


End file.
